


Man of 256 Faces

by kasenrin



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-24
Updated: 2013-06-23
Packaged: 2017-12-15 23:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/855308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kasenrin/pseuds/kasenrin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Len Kagamine is a boy with a detective agency, barely known among his peers as someone who can occasionally find a lost or stolen item. He had grown accustomed to the idea of his business never being taken seriously. One day, however, an odd young lady comes to him with a case that may be bigger than he can handle ... </p><p>Inspired by the song 'The Detective Loupe ~ Farewell, Man of 256 Faces.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Man of 256 Faces

Another day, another several hours of school. 

The last bell had finally rung about half an hour ago. Excited classmates moved out of the school quickly, meeting up with friends, chatting about how their days had gone, which teachers had obvious vendettas against them and what grades they had made on their tests. 

Len Kagamine was not among the chatter of the sea of classmates surrounding him. In his own mind, he had gone unnoticed as he packed his things, lifted his bag, and made his way quitely out of the school. Len wasn't necessarily the most social student in the classroom. There was a time, a long time ago, when he had been ... those days had been long gone for years, however. Now, he was more or less invisible, aside from his "job." 

Job? 

Yes, Job. 

About a year ago, Len had started up a Detective Agency. He referred to it as his job. 

Was it anything serious?

No. Len couldn't say that it was. 

Len took himself and his business seriously, but the same couldn't be said for his classmates. He got some business here and there, mostly jobs for finding lost or stolen items. They were solved relatively quickly once Len heard all sides of the story that he needed to, and while people were grateful for his help, it was hardly anything that he could really make a friend over. He was usable. 

Oddly enough, that was generally how Len liked it. He didn't really care much for being around people, and so it was perfectly fine by him that people only seemed to use him when they felt they needed to. 

Len made his way into the small, wooden clubhouse that he had made into his office. He dropped his bag, and sat at the makeshift desk that he had; a wooden plank stretched across two crates. He had another wooden crate as a chair, and two more in front of the desk for anyone who may drop by. His office wasn't glamorous by any means, but it was his, and he enjoyed it. He took out a sandwich and a bottle of juice from his bag, and began to eat. 

"Mn ... another eventless day today, I guess." 

He sighed, leaning forward onto his desk and chewing thoughtfully. 

"I guess homework will be done a little early today," he said to himself as he swallowed that bite of sandwich. He set it down, leaning over to find his books in his bag. 

A sudden knock at the makeshift door of the clubhouse brought his attention away from homework. 

No way. 

A visitor? A client? 

Len abandoned his thoughts of homework for the time being and sat up once again. 

"Come in," he called out. The person on the other side of the door wasted no time in obliging him. 

What crouched before Len was an older girl, with short, green hair tied up on one side in a bit of a half-ponytail. Atop the mess of green was a pair of 3D glasses. Len had seen her around before; she was an upperclassman, and she was a fairly interesting one; she was friendly, and made friends easily. She was still considered 'odd' by many of her peers, though, and often made fun of among the popular crowds. What was her name, again? 

"You're Len Kagamine, right?" She asked, her voice clearly demanding an answer even if a demand wasn't her intention. Len nodded, gesturing toward a crate. 

"Please, take a seat." 

The girl nodded, then sat herself down on a crate before looking around at the place she now found herself in. She was quiet for several moments as she did this. Len watched her, amused. The girl was definitely odd ... odd, and easily distracted. He cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to him. 

"... Oh, right. Um, I don't know if you know me at all. My name is Megumi. Everyone calls me 'Gumi,' though, so just call me that." 

Len wasn't sure if he wanted to get that familiar with a client. He decided that she wold be known as 'Megumi,' and only Megumi right then and there. He nodded, urging her to continue. 

"Anyway ..." 

Gumi suddenly folded her hands in front of her and bowed quickly, but not gracefully; in an instant, the bow had caused her to smack her head on the table. She cried out and sucked in a quick breath, bringing a hand to her forehead to nurse the wound. Len winced. She might have some splinters in there from the wood ... he would have to make sure she was really okay before she left today. 

"S-Sorry about that-- I need your help! Please, help me!" 

Once again, Len couldn't help but find her amusing. 

"Megumi-san, I can't help you if don't tell me what you need help with." 

"... Oh, right."

It was clear to see that this girl wasn't the brightest of the bunch. Len could see where her charm came from. Gumi shook her head and straightened up, thinking for a few moments on how to explain her problem to him. 

"... It's my brother."

... Well. This was out of the ordinary. 

"Did you lose your brother?" Len said, the question coming out in a bored tone. If this was a case of a missing person, Gumi really should have gone to the police instead of him ... Gumi shrugged and sighed. 

"Well ... yes and no." 

Len stayed quiet this time. She was already giving him a headache with this. But, he had a policy on hearing out all of his potential clientele, no matter how ridiculous the case was. 

"You see ... my big brother, he's a great guy. He's my half brother, actually. Different moms, same dad. His mom left when he was little, and mine died when I was in preschool. We live with our dad, and even though we're only halfway related, he never treated me any differently because of it. He practically raised me." 

Len couldn't help but think that this was part of the reason why Gumi had grown up to be so odd. 

"So what's the mystery here?" Len asked, and Gumi made a face. 

"I'm getting there! Sheesh, cool your jets--" 

Len gave her an unamused stare. Gumi sighed and slumped. 

"I'm sorry, I know this is probably super annoying ... anyway. My kind big brother has been acting really different recently. He doesn't show it in front of Dad, and Dad's hardly home enough to notice anything different anyway, but lately he's been holing himself up in his room a lot. He's been evasive whenever I ask him what's going on. He's not telling me anything, and it's weird. He's usually never so secretive with me ..." 

Gumi's posture deteriorated even more, and Len couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He leaned forward, part of his face hidden behind folded hands. 

"So then, you want me to find out what's going on with your brother?" 

Gumi nodded. "I know that this is kind of an invasion of privacy, but he's been acting so weird lately ..." Her expression became determined, and she looked Len in the eye with a kind of emotion that Len didn't see very often in people. Her brother was someone she seemed very passionate about. She was the sibling who would do anything for someone she loved. 

It made sense to Len. But despite how he understood it, was this a case he should be involving himself in? As he was wondering, Gumi's voice cut into his thoughts. 

"Please, Len. Help bring my brother back to me."

**Author's Note:**

> A long, long time ago, in a mindset far, far away … I came up with a storyline to the song "The Detective Loupe ~ Farewell, Man of 256 Faces". I didn’t want to write it because the outline I came up with for it was very long and epic, there were a lot of things I hadn’t figured out and worked into the plot, and also because I am lazy and don’t want to feel obligated to keep writing chapters of a long, epic fanfiction. I’m one of those people who writes on a whim. My writing process goes like this:
> 
> Have Plot Bunny.
> 
> Is the plot bunny going to go away sometime soon?
> 
> Yes: Don’t write it.
> 
> No: Write it all in one sitting and don’t proofread or have anyone beta.
> 
> Yes, go ahead and judge me for not having a beta, but needless to say, I don’t do well with chaptered fics. However, sometimes, a plot bunny lasts for years, and then one day, I get the strongest urge to write a snippet of it. So, here you go. Enjoy. It probably won’t be updated anytime soon, if at all. 
> 
> Oh, and the title is subject to change. I am uncreative and don't have a better title for this at the moment, I'm afraid.


End file.
